Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) Member of Parliament, Amanza Walton-Desir, is contending that under Annex 13 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, the Government is legally obligated to release the report on the deadly Guyana Defence Force (GDF) helicopter crash, since it conducted the investigation into the crash under that specific provision.  

The Government has been tightlipped on the final investigation report of helicopter crash, which claimed the lives of five servicemen in December, 2023.

Last week, Minister of Aviation and Public Utilities, Deodat Indar told the National Assembly that since the aircraft was owned by the GDF, and the flight was controlled by the GDF, the incident should be exempted from public release of the findings of the report.

But MP Walton-Desir said he is wrong.

The Opposition MP told reporters that while the Aviation Minister maybe relying on Article 3 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation to block the release of the report, his interpretation is deeply flawed.

Article 3 states that the Convention is applicable only to civil aircraft, and not state aircraft, including those used by the military, customs and police services. But according to MP Walton-Desir, the helicopter that was involved in the accident was registered as a civil aircraft and not a military aircraft.

“Guyana does not have military airspace. There is no carve out for military operations – that’s the first thing you have to note. The second thing you have to note is that the aircraft was a civilian registered aircraft, and there is nothing like military aviation in Guyana. And so a civilian aircraft falls squarely within the parameters and under the authority of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority. It is registered on our register as such,” MP Walton-Desir explained.

She said the Government activated Annex 13 the moment it launched an investigation into the deadly crash, and now it is obligated to release the findings.

“If you are a civil registered aircraft, flying in civil administered airspace, then you trigger the provisions of Annex 13. What does Annex 13 require? Annex 13 requires that as long as an investigation is commenced, one, an interim report must be released, and two a final report must be released. So, they have triggered an investigation under Annex 13, so they cannot turn back now,” MP Walton-Desir explained.

It was explained that because Guyana is an ICAO state, it is legally obligated to provide other contracting state with a report on its findings, and safety recommendations.

“As long as it is not a full military operation, that is, a military aircraft operating in military airspace under special operations rule, you have to release the accident report because like I said the families must know what happened to them, and if it is an issue of pilot error or human factors, we must know about it because it helps to strengthen the safety recommendations within the industry. And so, the minister is mistaken, and if I were the family, I would be taking legal action to force them to release the safety findings of that report,” MP Walton-Desir said.

While the Guyana Defence Force provided information on the crash in the immediate aftermath in 2023, it has been very protective of the statements from the two surviving servicemen and has repeatedly dodged questions on the issue.

Those who lost their lives in the helicopter crash were Commander of the 1^st infantry Battalion, Col. Michael Shahoud; Veteran Pilot, Lt. Col. Michael Charles who was in command of the helicopter; Lt Col. Sean Welcome, retired Brigadier Gary Beaton along the Sgt Jason Khan.

It is suspected that pilot error might have contributed to the crash.

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